Molecular sieve materials, both natural and synthetic, have catalytic properties for various types of hydrocarbon conversion. Certain molecular sieves (e.g., zeolites, AlPOs, and/or mesoporous materials) are ordered, porous crystalline materials having a definite crystalline structure. Within the crystalline molecular sieve material there are a large number of cavities which may be interconnected by a number of channels or pores. These cavities and pores are uniform in size within a specific molecular sieve material. Since the dimensions of these pores are such as to accept for adsorption molecules of certain dimensions while rejecting those of larger dimensions, these materials have come to be known as “molecular sieve” and are utilized in a variety of industrial processes.
Such molecular sieves, both natural and synthetic, include a wide variety of positive ion-containing crystalline silicates. These silicates can be described as a rigid three-dimensional framework of SiO4 and Group IIIA element oxide (e.g., AlO4) (as defined in the Periodic Table, IUPAC 1997). The tetrahedra are cross-linked by the sharing of oxygen atoms whereby the ratio of the total Group IIIA element (e.g., aluminum) and silicon atoms to oxygen atoms is 1:2. The electrovalence of the tetrahedra containing the Group IIIA element (e.g., aluminum) is balanced by the inclusion in the crystal of a cation, for example a proton, an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal cation. This can be expressed as the ratio of the Group IIIA element (e.g., aluminum) to the number of various cations, such as H+, Ca2+/2, Sr2+/2, Na+, K+, or Li+, is equal to unity.
Molecular sieves that find application in catalysis include any of the naturally occurring or synthetic crystalline molecular sieves. Examples of these sieves include large pore zeolites, intermediate pore size zeolites, and small pore zeolites. These zeolites and their isotypes are described in “Atlas of Zeolite Framework Types”, eds. W. H. Meier, D. H. Olson and Ch. Baerlocher, Elsevier, Fifth Edition, 2001, which is herein incorporated by reference. A large pore zeolite generally has a pore size of at least about 7 Å and includes LTL, VFI, MAZ, FAU, OFF, *BEA, and MOR framework type zeolites (IUPAC Commission of Zeolite Nomenclature). Examples of large pore zeolites include mazzite, offretite, zeolite L, VPI-5, zeolite Y, zeolite X, omega, and Beta. An intermediate pore size zeolite generally has a pore size from about 5 Å to less than about 7 Å and includes, for example, MFI, MEL, EUO, MTT, MFS, AEL, AFO, HEU, FER, MWW, and TON framework type zeolites (IUPAC Commission of Zeolite Nomenclature). Examples of intermediate pore size zeolites include ZSM-5, ZSM-11, ZSM-22, “MCM-22 family material”, silicalite 1, and silicalite 2. A small pore size zeolite has a pore size from about 3 Å to less than about 5.0 Å and includes, for example, CHA, ERI, KFI, LEV, SOD, and LTA framework type zeolites (RIPAC Commission of Zeolite Nomenclature). Examples of small pore zeolites include ZK-4, ZSM-2, SAPO-34, SAPO-35, ZK-14, SAPO-42, ZK-21, ZK-22, ZK-5, ZK-20, zeolite A, chabazite, zeolite T, gmelinite, ALPO-17, and clinoptilolite.
The term “MCM-22 family material” (or “material of the MCM-22 family” or “molecular sieve of the MCM-22 family”), as used herein, includes one or more of:                (i) molecular sieves made from a common first degree crystalline building block unit cell, which unit cell has the MWW framework topology. (A unit cell is a spatial arrangement of atoms which if tiled in three-dimensional space describes the crystal structure. Such crystal structures are discussed in the “Atlas of Zeolite Framework Types”, Fifth edition, 2001, the entire content of which is incorporated as reference);        (ii) molecular sieves made from a common second degree building block, being a 2-dimensional tiling of such MWW framework topology unit cells, forming a monolayer of one unit cell thickness, preferably one c-unit cell thickness;        (iii) molecular sieves made from common second degree building blocks, being layers of one or more than one unit cell thickness, wherein the layer of more than one unit cell thickness is made from stacking, packing, or binding at least two monolayers of one unit cell thickness. The stacking of such second degree building blocks can be in a regular fashion, an irregular fashion, a random fashion, or any combination thereof; and        (iv) molecular sieves made by any regular or random 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional combination of unit cells having the MWW framework topology.        
The MCM-22 family materials are characterized by having an X-ray diffraction pattern including d-spacing maxima at 12.4±0.25, 3.57±0.07 and 3.42±0.07 Angstroms (either calcined or as-synthesized). The MCM-22 family materials may also be characterized by having an X-ray diffraction pattern including d-spacing maxima at 12.4±0.25, 6.9±0.15, 3.57±0.07 and 3.42±0.07 Angstroms (either calcined or as-synthesized). The X-ray diffraction data used to characterize said molecular sieve are obtained by standard techniques using the K-alpha doublet of copper as the incident radiation and a diffractometer equipped with a scintillation counter and associated computer as the collection system. Materials belonging to the MCM-22 family include MCM-22 (described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,325), PSH-3 (described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,409), SSZ-25 (described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,667), ERB-1 (described in European Patent No. 0293032), ITQ-1 (described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,498), ITQ-2 (described in International Patent Publication No. WO97/17290), ITQ-30 (described in International Patent Publication No. WO2005118476), MCM-36 (described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,277), MCM-49 (described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,575) and MCM-56 (described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,697). The entire contents of the aforesaid patents are incorporated herein by reference.
It is to be appreciated the MCM-22 family molecular sieves described above are distinguished from conventional large pore zeolite alkylation catalysts, such as mordenite, in that the MCM-22 materials have 12-ring surface pockets which do not communicate with the 10-ring internal pore system of the molecular sieve.
The zeolitic materials designated by the IZA-SC as being of the MWW topology are multi-layered materials which have two pore systems arising from the presence of both 10 and 12 membered rings. The Atlas of Zeolite Framework Types classes five differently named materials as having this same topology: MCM-22, ERB-1, ITQ-1, PSH-3, and SSZ-25.
The MCM-22 family molecular sieves have been found to be useful in a variety of hydrocarbon conversion processes. Examples of MCM-22 family molecular sieve are MCM-22, MCM-49, MCM-56, ITQ-1, PSH-3, SSZ-25, and ERB-1. Such molecular sieves are useful for alkylation of aromatic compounds. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,936,744 discloses a process for producing a monoalkylated aromatic compound, particularly cumene, comprising the step of contacting a polyalkylated aromatic compound with an alkylatable aromatic compound under at least partial liquid phase conditions and in the presence of a transalkylation catalyst to produce the monoalkylated aromatic compound, wherein the transalkylation catalyst comprises a mixture of at least two different crystalline molecular sieves, wherein each of said molecular sieves is selected from zeolite beta, zeolite Y, mordenite and a material having an X-ray diffraction pattern including d-spacing maxima at 12.4±0.25, 6.9±0.15, 3.57±0.07 and 3.42±0.07 Angstrom (Å).
The MCM-22 family molecular sieves including MCM-22, MCM-49, and MCM-56 have various applications in hydrocarbon conversion processes. Unfortunately, industrial applications of zeolite catalysts have been hindered due to some major disadvantages associated with the current synthesis techniques that make large scale production of these catalysts complicated and therefore expensive. At present, crystalline zeolite catalysts are synthesized mainly by conventional liquid-phase hydrothermal treatment, including in-situ crystallization and seeding method, and the vapor phase transport method.
In the hydrothermal method, a reaction mixture of silica, alumina, caustic agent, an organic template or structured directing agent, and water is heated at a high temperature in a liquid phase to produce crystalline zeolite crystals (see also U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,650, Lai et al.) . The main drawbacks of this method are the difficulty in assuring the uniformity of the crystallization conditions and limited reproducibility of high quality membranes.
In the vapor phase transport method, an extrudate reaction mixture of silica, alumina, caustic agent, an organic template or structure directing agent and water is heated at autogenous pressure at 100° C. in a sealed reactor for a number of days. The extrudate is then dried in a vacuum oven overnight and calcined in air at a high temperature for a further eight hours to produce a crystalline zeolite (see also U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,851, Sep. 24, 1996, Miller). This method is unsuitable for producing crystalline zeolite on a large scale as the process is complicated and it takes a long time. In addition, the resulting crystalline zeolite has low crush strength and lacks uniformity and consequently has poor quality.
The present invention aims to obviate or at least mitigate the above described problems and/or to provide improvements generally.